these so called satellite campuses are nothing but a milking ground for unscrupulous third-rate lecturers!

years back some damsel wanted to use me for a
spare tyre but i was smarter than she thought!

well done barth! we feel you!

good advice but our leaders should do as they say. walk the talk!

boko haram: the scorn of the earth!

nice write-up. same reasons against banning okada should suffice for delta state but are those concerned listening?
i think not!

i wish all those blackberry babes could read this!

all,
details of my one day harvest for yesterday 16/10/12
@18:20 hrs.

total kw/h ytd = 1608kwh
previous day kw/h = 1596 kwh
therefore one day harvest = 12kwh/d

total amp hours = 2558.2ah
previous day amp hours = 2343.9ah
therefore one day amp hour harvest = 214.3ah/d

monitoring still in progress. pix will follow later.

sweet coffee + horlick + honey!

olarevo: @George_D. please is there any disadvantage in using 8 6v 200ah to get 48v 200ah?

yes there is a big advantage. pls if you have 6v 200ah use them instead of 12v. reason being that they will have less internal resistance.

DaLover:

Thanks for the response George and the good works so far and sorry the questions sounded strange, I really want to implement a hybrid system by this end month so I am gathering as much info as I can. I am looking at a 16 batteries of 190ah each, a 5 kva inverter and 8 panels of 300watt each, hence the questions.

1) Please i would really like to know about the optimal parallel connections for the 4 banks you have, previously I was leaning towards more serial connections of 2 banks of 8 battries, because of higher voltage/less current draw and the fact that banks with less internal resistance act as load for other banks during discharge. I also discovered that the cyberpower inverter claims a charging current of 45Amps @ 48volts as against sukam's claim of 20Amps @ 48 to 96volts

2) & 3) please kindly help me with your suppliers contacts, cos |I am being offered =N=450 per watt for the 300watts panel, and I think its quite high

4) Ok, on the hand in hand working of the charge controller and the inverter...I just was hoping that this would be explicily stated in any of the two products

hello dalover,
first of all a quick correction: what i have is a single battery bank with three strings. each of those stands that you see in the picture is called a string. in my setup i have 3 strings with a system voltage of 48v not three or four banks as you're referring to. by the way, the old 200ah 48v setup in the corner has been taken out of service and is no longer part of my system. i hope you understand?

1) series connection is the best any day and if you've been following my earlier posts you'll discover i've always favored series battery installations over parallel ones. however, there are times such as this that you can't just get the size of battery bank you want unless you combine several strings in parallel. i struggled with this decision for a long time before finally settling for what i have now. personally i would have loved to have 24pcs 2v batteries say of 1000ah each and connect them in series but they're neither easily available in this part of our world and if you happen to find them the costs would be so prohibitive to make them economically non-viable.

2) 450 naira per watt is really on the high side. the prices of solar panels have since dropped drastically and you can get a 300w panel for less than half of that amount. call vitus on 08039644115 and discuss with him. i'm not sure he has 300w panels in stock for now but you can always give him a try.

3) it is difficult to see any product manual explaining the complementary work of inverters/solar charge controllers. rather this is a field practical knowledge. most inverters (except for a very few) will charge your batteries up to 85% of their capacities and leave it at that. the charge controller will then take the batteries through the remainder 15% and charge them to the brim. personally i noticed that when my sukam inverter status says 'battery charged' and i check my charge controller, the battery voltage will be around 53v. on a good sunny day, the charge controller will have to spend another couple of hours bringing up that voltage to about 57.6v (adsorption stage) before finally entering float. this is what i refer to as the remainder 15% of battery capacity. if you're using a sukam inverter and don't have a charge controller you'll never get this extra capacity.
again, assuming you used your inverter all through the night and there was power outage. if in the morning public power was restored the inverter begins to charge your batteries. also when the sun rises say at 9am the solar charge controller begins to charge the batteries. assuming the inverter is outputting 20 amps and the charge controller is supplying 30 amps, total charging amps into the battery will be 50 amps. when the battery voltage rises to 53v the sukam cuts off while the solar charge controller continues and takes the batteries the rest of the way.
this in a nutshell is how my hybrid system works. other installations having different brand inverters may vary slightly in terms of what voltage the inverter charger tapers off but you get the general idea.
lastly, there are a few exceptions where the inverter charger takes the batteries all the way to full capacity similar to the charge controller. that will be a topic for another day.

Akerekoroabijawara: Pls, I need somebody to tell the advantages of GXQ 0.8kva inverter over sulkam inverter.

hello akerekoroabijawara,
unfortunately there is no real advantage of the gaoxing 0.8kva inverter over the sukam. apart from its cheaper price, the gxq 0.8 inverter is a way inferior product and you may end up with prematurely dead batteries should you insist on using that product for a long time. i'll advise you get a proper inverter like the sukam, genus, nexus, cyberpower, etc if you rwally want to start right in your match to energy freedom.

Akanniade:
A year and 3 months running, my batteries still as 'stiff' as ever.

that's good to hear. it shows your charging system is really up to snuff.

personally, i'm hoping to exceed the 5yrs i maxed out of my old 200ah zenith batteries
with my present setup. so many missteps and abuses i subjected them to i'm trying to
correct with the new 260ah bank as i arm myself with better knowledge. i tell you the
world of renewables keeps evolving!

thanks my brother. how is your system performing?

@odilibe,
Yuk! Looks like we just hit a stone wall. What to do?
There must be another round of tests!

nothing yet!

during this 4-day period, my fridge, freezer, tvs, water pump, etc were working regularly. it was just a stress test to confirm my ability to go totally off-grid should the need arise.

more:

all,
over the weekend, i achieved a milestone by going off-grid (on critical installations) for over 87hrs! below are snapshots of my system during the tests:

hello dalover,
your questions are rather a curios one but i'll try and see how i can navigate through them:

1) the cyberpower was not the sole reason for this mode of installation. i happen to have stumbled upon a better way of stringing parallel battery banks so they can receive the same amount of charge current at all times, hence the reason for the setup.

2) i'm not one to broadcast prices of renewables on the internet as i realize these prices change with time. what i can do rather is to refer you to my supply sources so you can discuss with them first hand. i neither sell nor stock these items.

3) the 200w panels were the ones available at the time hence i had to do with what i have. there's nothing stopping me from adding higher wattage panels up to 300w provided they're of the same specs as the ones already installed.

4) the charge controller and inverter charging systems work hand in hand so there can be no conflict. for a hybrid system which is what my installation is, the two will always complement each other.

ile naira,
thanks for helping me out. the solar field is not an exclusive one and so everyone is free to participate and share knowledge.

blexxonmak,
going off-grid with solar panels alone? the answer is no. but yes, you can live off-grid on the sun alone! but then you have to incorporate things like solar hot water systems, solar stoves, etc.

let me explain:
just like ile naira said above, going off-grid depends on so many factors including your size/type of equipment, lifestyle, what degree of autonomy you desire, etc. therefore there is no one single formula that fits all. the best approach is to take things on an individual basis. take my own case for instance; besides my fridges, refrigerators, lighting, Tvs, etc i have water heaters and hotplates. i run virtually all the loads apart from the hotplates and water heater on solar and can go several days without plugging to phcn but if i want to go totally off-grid, it won't be cost-effective for me running my hotplate and water heaters on my solar panels because then i'll have to fill every space on my roof with panels just to be able to sustain the load (heating elements draw an obscene amount of power, i tell you!) rather, i'll have to look into installing a solar hot water system (which is more cost effective and even cheaper than solar panels). then for the hot plate i'll have to think of using solar hot stoves, propane gas, etc.

so for small homes who don't need the luxury of hot water, hot plates, etc, you can argue that given my size of system they can live off-grid comfortably for years but for bigger homes like mine, it'll take additional power installations to achieve that dream. i could even decide to include wind or hydro depending on my location. however the good news is that with every small step you take, as you install a backup system, as you add one panel on another, you are irrevocably placing yourself in the right path to eventual energy freedom

@auchs,
Looks like you just got your wish because we got another round of tests coming up. I'll advise you stay up to date with the thread so you can follow developments closely as we firm things up with odilibe. As you can see, the wheels of technology is moving more rapidly than ever and a lot of people risk being left behind the moment they remove their eyes from the ball!

odilibe: yes...@George_D the inverto black pro range c120 lnb has a lower noise figure than inverto red classic C120...because of the difference in noise figure of this C120 lnb(s),The black pro C120 lnb...now on the future test list...
specifications...
INVERTO BLACK PRO TWIN C120...noise figure:0.2dB,conversion gain:55dB...
INVERTO BLACK PRO SINGLE.......noise figure:0.2dB,c0nversion gain:53~63dB
RED CLASSIC QUAD................noise figure:0.3dB Typ(0.7dB)max,conversion gain:55dB

This lnb specifications are listed @(www.inverto.tv).....

@odilibe,
The inverto black pro single seems to be the better of the lot. However I'm not sure it will be fine with everybody given that it is a single output. If we can get the quad version of it I think we'll be closer to launching yet another round of tests.

exactly, i agree!

odilibe: @D.lee thanks for your commendations...there wiil always be a room for testing lnb(s) in time to come...seems like the 0.3dB noise fig, inverto red classic c120 quad with conversion gain of 55dB from test beats other lnbs on prime focus dish...come to think of it..there are other C120 flange lnbs from inverto that has better specification than red classic quad C120...with lower noise figure of 0.2dB higher conversation gain of 53~63dB(max),the inverto black pro c120 flange...this leaves a question mark ..Anyways thanks for your commendations.

@odilibe,
You really mean there are better inverto LNB specs than the beautiful red classic?!
If we can gain this much from just the red head I wonder what better things await us from the higher grades of LNBs?
Hmmmmmm! Looks like we'll be doing yet another round of testing sometime very soon!
Get ready to break the myth once more!

oshobaba! our no nonsense comrade governor!

keep it up!

hello olarevo,
congrats for finally picking up courage to dive into this wonderful world of energy freedom.
i promise you this may be one of the best decisions you have taken in your whole life!

ok, to your questions:

yes, you can use 2pcs of 27v 200w solar panels to power a 48v battery bank. however you'll find
your charge controller may not be able to fully charge the batteries to their full capacity. in the
end, the batteries may end up dying prematurely due to undercharging. if you must use 2 panels in
series for 48v battery bank make sure they're each above 30v (vmp) that will guarantee you a full
charge or better still use 3 panels in series with an mppt solar charge controller.

which is better? 4pcs 200ah or 8pcs 100ah batteries in series? my answer is that both arrangement
will have the same stored energy at different system voltages. what i mean is this: 8pcs of 12v 100ah
in series will give you 96v * 100ah = 9600wh. equally 4pcs 12v 200ah batteries in series will give you
48v * 200ah = 9600wh.depending on what you want to achive i'll advice you stick with the later
configuration of 4pcs 12v 200ah batteries.

the magniworks that you referred to seems to be a scam. perpetual motion machines have been
talked about for a long time with really no proof to substantiate the claims.

you mean a 54v 200w panel? if yes then its the same answer i gave at the beginning. unless you
double that panel and use an mppt charge controller, it won't charge your batteries to their full
capacity.

@D.lee,
I think Ikiriye's test results covers majority of the east and since your dish is not in order
there's even no way you can put those LNBs into any meaningful use if we forward them to you.

Not to worry though, there will be other opportunities for you to participate in future trials
when the time comes.

sweet oha soup (not akunta's type though!)

pdozie,
that was a good one and quite encouraging too. i'll make haste to get mine
although i don't think we should be carried away with the good appearance of a product.
Rather we should be more concerned with its performance.

also, my 5ka binatone performed very well for almost a year before beginning to misbehave
so i guess its too early to start heaping praises on the prag. just my thoughts.

Adex70: @George~d pls kindly text me the name& number u want to be on the package for u to be easy to track.

@Adex70,
I'll call you later this morning to discuss.
Thanks!

@olenyi,
As you are aware, the original LNB testing started with Ikiriye in PH which is very much close to the east
before they were taken to Lagos. So far nobody has indicated any special interest in testing from the core east
and because of that they will be returned as already planned.

Have I answered your question?